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YouTube in our Lives - Writing Contest Results

“Video gives people a voice. From classrooms to war-torn countries, the Queen of England to the King of Pop, the Pope to the President of the United States, and the hillsides of Port au Prince to the streets of Tehran, video has the power to give rise to the most diverse set of faces and voices ever seen or heard in human history." --Chad Hurley, Founder - YouTube

Background on the YouTube Writing Contest:

Stage of Life asked thousands of high school and college students across the world to share their thoughts on how YouTube impacts their world.

On February 14th, 2005, three PayPal employees, Chad Hurley, Steven Chen, and Jawed Karim founded YouTube. YouTube’s "About" page states that it “allows billions of people to discover, watch and share originally-created videos. YouTube provides a forum for people to connect, inform, and inspire others across the globe and acts as a distribution platform for original content creators and advertisers large and small.”

Do you remember a time without YouTube? Do you remember the first time that you watched or shared a YouTube video?

VISITS: Over 4,700 teens and college students visited the StageofLife.com writing contest during the month's writing prompt (June - July 2014) from across the US (all 50 states) and dozens of international countries.

TEENS and SURVEY DATA:220+ students between junior high school and college fully completed the national survey about teen usage statistics on YouTube.

ESSAY WINNER: Place winners, along with Runners Up and finalists were selected.

RESOURCES:View the YouTube resources we provided for review during the writing contest period.

PART I: Statistics about Teenagers and YouTube

Before submitting their StageofLife.com writing contest essay, teens were asked to complete a survey containing some questions about how they use and interact with YouTube. Here are the teen statistics from the StageofLife.com survey from the students who fully completed the poll...

49% of teens have uploaded a video to YouTube.

33% of teens who answered "yes" to uploading a video have submitted just 1 video. 48.7% of teens have uploaded 2-5 videos.

5% of students have uploaded more than 26 videos to YouTube.

77% of teenagers subscribe to a YouTube channel. For those students that subscribe to a YouTube channel, 1 out of 3 teenagers subscribe to a channel in the "Music" and "Popular on YouTube" channel categories. The least popular YouTube channel categories for teen subscriptions are "Sports" and "Movies".

37.4% of teens have clicked on a YouTube advertisement while watching a video.

64%of teens have shared a YouTube video on Facebook, Twitter or other social media.

1 out of 2 teens primarily watch YouTube to laugh and be entertained with funny content vs. 18.5% who watch primarily to learn new skills or be educated and 31% who watch primarily to stay up to date on the latest music and entertainment from their favorite artists.

75% of teens seek advice through YouTube channels / videos on topics important to their daily lives, e.g. relationships/dating, teen trends, advice on how to do new skills such as creating new hairstyles, etc.

80% of teens have high school teachers or college instructors who use YouTube for educational purposes in the classroom.

20% of teens indicate that YouTube is not used by their teachers (12%) or is not allowed in their school (8%).

82.4% of teenagers have shared a YouTube video with their parents.

27% of teens are "Not Aware" of YouTube's copyright laws.

71% of students say YouTube influences our culture a "great deal" verses less than 1% who say "not at all"

91.4% of teens feel that, overall, YouTube is a "positive" part of our society.

What makes certain videos popular or go viral? Answers to this open ended question can be found in Stage of Life's full YouTube and Teen Statistics report. You can download the statistics report below (click on the PDF document). Or you can read them by visiting our What Makes Certain Videos Go Viral summary page.

To read the full survey results, click the PDF icon to view or save the free download.

SOURCE: All statistics above were collected by StageofLife.com as part of its monthly teen trend reports containing statistics and writing contest prompt responses from teens on real world issues.

PART II: STORY THEMES

After taking the survey, students submitted their writing contest essays to StageofLife.com. From the qualifying teen essay submissions, several themes emerged:

Themes and Trends from the Essays: "How does YouTube impact my life?

Diversity: YouTube is a melting pot of cultures and people from all around the world. At any given moment, users can search for lessons on the Tagalog language, or peek into life in South Africa, or listen to a trans woman speak about her transition. This representation is important because it helps people figuratively broaden their horizons and learn about the people and cultures from all over the world.

Education: Move over Wikipedia—YouTube was highly recommended by these teens for helping them with their homework. Some searches on the site were as simple as current homework exercises; other teens enjoy lectures from university professors about subjects that interest them. With all types of knowledge at their fingertips, these teens never have to stop learning.

Entertainment: Teens overwhelmingly agreed that they used the popular video site for fun. Some people love special book recommendation vloggers called “BookTubes”; others are hardcore Nerdfighters; and other teens love watching funny and inspirational people like Tyler Oakley. Chances are that if you have a niche interest, there is a YouTube community for you.

Inspiration: These teens found confidence in posting their own videos, or listening to other vloggers speak about their struggles. YouTube helped them get through difficult times in their lives, or make decisions about things they may have always wanted to do. The bottom line is that, for these teens, YouTube is more than just a social media site.

PART III: Read the Teenagers YouTube video nominations

Immediately below, you'll find links to the StageofLife.com winning essay, our runners-up, semi-finalists, and all qualifying essays from college students and teenagers about how YouTube impacts their lives.

Please take a few moments to read an essay or two, especially our winner, runners-up, and finalists.

If you have the time, make a comment on the essays you enjoyed the most. We know the student writers will love hearing your positive input (they'll get an email notifying them if you comment on their writing contest entry).

StageofLife.com hosts educational, national, monthly writing and blogging contests for teens and college students. In its mission to provide students an authentic community to share their opinions and publish their ideas, StageofLife.com will strive to continue its commitment to giving teens and college students a larger voice.

Writing Contest Archive - Students

Writing Contests and Teen Trend Reports

Below you will find all of the monthly writing contests and teen trend reports from the last five years hosted by StageofLife.com. Our dedication to digital literacy efforts have reached over 1,000,000 students and teachers in the last half decade, received mention on TIME.com, and features in the news. Feel free to click through and read the top essay submissions from any given month. StageofLife.com is honored to be one of the most-visited writing contests for students in the world. We love working with you as we celebrate the journey as life-long readers and writers...

2010 Writing Contests

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StageofLife.com hosts national blogging and writing contests each month. Cash and/or gift card prizes are awarded along with Stage of Life SWAG and Featured Writer status. No matter what your life stage may be, we've got a monthly writing and blogging contest for you.

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